Krivak helps resolve players' off-campus fight

Maryland notes

COLLEGE PARK -- University of Maryland head football coach Joe Krivak said yesterday that he met with the student and the two players who were involved in an off-campus fight Sept. 15 and that the two parties have resolved any differences. Krivak would not give details about the meeting or specifics about an agreement.

"As far as I'm concerned, it's a dead issue," the coach said. "The two sides worked it out by themselves."

The complainant, a man who identified himself only as a Maryland student, walked into the university's football building Tuesday and said he had been beaten up by two sophomore players after the Terps' loss to Clemson.

The student, who had two black eyes, told reporters earlier in the week that he had a lump and numbness on the right side of his face and nerve damage to his right eye. He said at the time that he planned to ask the athletic department for damages to cover any medical bills.

The fight, according to the student, started about midnight at a College Park bar called The Cellar, then continued outside.

The student said one of the players swung at him first because he stared at a girl who was with the player. The student said there was a brief fight and that a bouncer escorted a friend of his outside. The student said he went outside to see what was happening to his friend and that the fight continued there.

Krivak said Wednesday that his players, both reserves, told him the student was involved in "touching incidents" with the girl who accompanied the player, and that those incidents provoked the fight.

* Oakland Mills High freshman linebacker Archie Clark, The Sun's Defensive Player of the Year last season, underwent reconstructive surgery on the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee yesterday at Sibley Hospital in Washington.

According to Maryland trainer J.J. Bush, Clark first hurt the knee at Oakland Mills last season and used a special brace while participating in the Big 33 Classic during the summer. Clark practiced with the Terps, but suffered two injuries to the knee, the latest about two weeks ago. At that time, team doctor Stan Lavine decided to operate rather than risk cartilage damage.

* New athletic director Andy Geiger will attend the game against Michigan tomorrow. He is expected to fly back with the team, then begin his tenure at Maryland on Monday.